Multiway valve for sanitary fixtures

ABSTRACT

A multiway valve, which is more particularly intended for a hand-operated shower, contains several individual valves, whose closure members are fitted to a tiltable element. By tilting the tiltable element, which is supported at one point, some of the plurality of individual valves can be opened and optionally also closed. The multiway valve can be housed in a confined space.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed at a multiway valve for sanitary fittings. Theproblem frequently arises with sanitary fittings that the water leavinga mixing valve must be switched to different outlets. Such multiwayvalves are frequently fitted into the fittings or are installed asseparate fittings. They are e.g. used for switching over head showers,lateral showers or hand-operated showers. Frequently the known multiwayvalves take up a large amount of space.

The problem of the invention is to provide a multiway valve for sanitaryfittings, which requires a limited amount of space and which can beeasily operated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To solve this problem the invention proposes a multiway valve having thefeatures disclosed herein and defined in the claims, whose wording, likethat of the abstract, is by reference made into part of the content ofthe present description.

The multiway valve proposed by the invention contains at least threeindividual valves between which switching is to take place. Eachindividual valve contains a valve seat and a closure member. All closuremembers are connected to the tiltable or tilting element, which producesa different valve situation in each tilting position. By tilting thetiltable element supported at one point it is consequently possible tobring about an opening or closing of the individual valves. It ispossible that all the valve seats are located as openings in a disk orplate-like element, i.e. can be housed in juxtaposed, confined manner.

According to a further development of the invention, the multiway valveis operable in such a way that with the exception of the instant ofswitching, always only an individual valve is open, whereas the othervalves are closed.

According to a further development of the invention the operatingelement is constructed in such a way that when operated it opens oneindividual valve and simultaneously closes another individual valve.

According to the invention it is sufficient for the multiway valve tocontain a single operating element, which is then operated in differentways in order to open or close a specific individual valve.

However, according to a further development of the invention it ispossible for the multiway valve to have a number of operating elementscorresponding to the number of individual valves to be controlled. Eachoperating element can be associated with precisely one individual valvein such a way that an operation of the operating element leads to theopening of said individual valve.

It is possible for the operating element associated with a specificindividual valve to be constructed in such a way that it opens saidindividual valve, closes the previously opened individual valve andleaves closed the other individual valve previously closed.

According to a further development of the invention the tiltable elementis in the form of a plate or disk shaped like a regular polygon,particularly in the form of an equilateral triangle when there are threeindividual valves.

According to the invention the closure members or closing elements ofthe individual valves in the vicinity of the angles of the tiltableelement are connected thereto. This makes it possible to effectivelyobtain the necessary stroke for opening and closing the individualvalves.

According to a further development the closure members of the individualvalves are also connected to the tiltable element in the vicinity of thecentres of the sides. This also makes it possible to obtain a uniformstroke for all, the individual valves.

According to the invention it is possible for several operating elementsto act on the tiltable element in the vicinity of the centres of itssides.

However, it is also possible and is proposed by the invention that theoperating elements act on the tiltable element in the vicinity of itsangles.

According to the invention the operating elements are pushbuttons, whichcan be particularly easily and obviously operated. For opening aspecific individual valve the user only has to depress the correspondingpushbutton.

A particularly important application for the multiway valve proposed bythe invention is to install it in a hand-operated shower and to positionthe operating elements in such a way that they can be operated by theuser with the hand holding the shower handle. This can e.g. take placein the vicinity of the shower head or also on the shower handle with theaid of the thumb. With the switching valve it is then possible to switchdifferent shower head jet types, for which purpose it has hitherto beennecessary to act on the shower head using the second hand.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features, details and advantages of the invention can begathered from the following description of a preferred embodiment andthe attached drawings, wherein show:

FIG. 1 A section through a shower head with several separate jet guides.

FIG. 2 On a larger scale a section through the multiway valve accordingto the invention fitted in the shower head.

FIG. 3 Diagrammatically a plan view of components of the multiway valveproposed by the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section through a shower head with a multiwayvalve according to the invention. The shower head contains a jet disk 1,with three different types of jet exit orifices 2, 3, 4. To theindividual types of jet exit orifices 2, 3, 4 lead separate water ducts,whereof only a single water duct 5 is shown in section in FIG. 1. Thewater duct 5 shown leads to a device with which massaging jets can bedischarged through the jet exit orifices 2 and for this purpose theshower head contains a turbine.

In an area surrounding the centre of the jet disk are provided the jetexit orifices 3 for a relatively hard water jet, whereas in a furtheroutwardly located area it is possible to discharge aerated water jetsthrough the exit orifices 4.

Directly upstream of the shower head and at the end of the only partlyshown handle 6 is provided a switching device, in order to switch thewater flowing through the handle to the different jet ducts. Theswitching device is operated with the aid of individual pushbuttons 7,8, which are covered and therefore sealed to the outside by an elasticdiaphragm 9. By pressing on the pushbuttons more easily found as aresult of the elevations 10 it is possible to operate the switchingdevice, which represents a multiway valve. In the represented embodimentthe multiway valve is designed in such a way that in each case oneindividual valve can be opened, which then passes the inflowing waterinto one of three water ducts.

Details of this multiway valve are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The multiwayvalve contains a plate 11 in which there are three openings 12 with aslightly inclined edge. Each opening 12 leads into a water duct 5, whichthen passes into the shower head. Each opening 12 forms a valve seat.For cooperating with the openings 12 are provided closing elements orclosure members 1,3 which have a circumferential O-ring 14, which canrest on the valve seat 12. On the side upstream of the valve seat 12 theclosure members 13 contain a lug 15 with a widened head 16. With saidlug 15 the closure members 13 are fixed in a tilting or tiltable element17, which is supported in punctiform manner roughly in its centre by astud 18. In the position shown in FIG. 2 the valve seat 12, which is inthe sectional plane, is closed by the closing member 13, whereas a valveseat located behind the drawing plane is opened. This is apparent fromthe closure member 13 to the left, which is consequently extracted fromits associated opening. In order to open the individual valve formed bythe valve seat 12 and the closure member 13 and located in the sectionalplane, the user presses on the elevation 10 located in the sectionalplane. As a result the corresponding pushbutton 8 is moved to the leftand tilts the tiltable element 17 about a line linking the punctiformsupport and a second, closed individual valve. In the representedposition the closure member 13 to the left is moved downwards in orderto close the associated individual valve. Simultaneously the individualvalve located in the sectional plane is open. This can also be expressedin such a way that the operating element represented by the pushbutton 8is used for opening the individual valve located in the sectional plane.An individual pushbutton is provided for each individual valve.

The principle on which the multiway valve according to the invention isbased is best described relative to FIG. 3. In the representedembodiment, the three intake valves are located in one plane and all theclosure members 13 and all the valve seats 12 have an identicalconstruction. The tiltable element 17 is shaped like an equilateraltriangle, to whose angles are fixed the closure members 13. In FIG. 3the closure member 13 is omitted from the top of tiltable element 17.From the angle a slot 20 passes into the triangle, which is widenedthere to form a round opening 19. The closure member 13 is pressed fromthe angle through the slot 20 with a lug 15 and then remains suspendedin the opening 19. The slot 20 is somewhat narrower than the diameter ofthe lug 15. In this way in all three angles of the tiltable element 17is in each case retained one closure member 13. The closure members havea certain clearance in order to compensate an angle present on tiltingthe tiltable element 17. However, they are connected to the tiltableelement 17 in the push direction and pull direction, i.e. perpendicularto the drawing plane.

Roughly in the centre of the side of the tiltable element 17 is in eachcase formed a widening 21, which forms an engagement point for thepushbutton 8. Therefore the pushbuttons 8 act on the tiltable element 17roughly perpendicular to the plane thereof. However, they are notconnected to the tiltable element 17.

In the vicinity of its centre, the tiltable element 17 is supported bythe stud 18. This support is substantially punctiform.

For the following discussion a starting situation is assumed in whichthe closure members 13 a and 13 c are located in the valve seats 12 andthe associated individual valves are closed. In this case the individualvalve at the top in FIG. 3 is opened, which results from the geometry,namely the height of the stud 18. If a user now presses on thepushbutton associated with the widening 21, the tiltable element 17 istilted about an axis linking the support point 18 with the closuremember 13 c. This means that the previously opened individual valve, atthe top in FIG. 3, is closed and the left-hand individual valve in FIG.3, represented by the closure member 13 a, is opened. The pushbuttonacting in the centre of one side of the equilateral triangle isconsequently associated with the individual valve located at theopposite apex of the triangle.

1. A multiway valve for sanitary fittings, comprising: at least threeindividual valves, which in each case have a valve seat and a closuremember movable with respect to the valve seat; a tiltable element havinga circumference at which the closure members of the individual valvesare connected for the operation of said valves, wherein the tiltableelement is supported in punctiform manner on a tilting point at acentral area of the tiltable element; and, at least one operatingelement provided for tilting the tiltable element and thereby operatingthe individual valves.
 2. The multiway valve according to claim 1,wherein the multiway valve is operable in such a way that only one ofsaid at least three individual valves is open.
 3. The multiway valveaccording to claim 1, wherein the operating element is constructed insuch a way that when operated it opens one of said at least threeindividual valves and closes another of said individual valves.
 4. Themultiway according to claim 1, comprising one said operating element foreach of said at least three individual valves.
 5. The multiway valveaccording to claim 1, wherein the operating element associated with aspecific one of the individual valves is constructed in such a way thatit opens said specific individual valve, closes a previously openedother one of the individual valves and keeps closed a previously closedfurther one of the individual valves.
 6. The multiway valve according toclaim 1, wherein the tiltable element comprises a regular polygon. 7.The multiway valve according to claim 1, wherein the tiltable elementcomprises a polygon and the closure members of the individual valves areconnected to the tiltable element in a vicinity of the tiltable element.8. The multiway valve according to claim 7, wherein the closure membersof the individual valves are connected to the tiltable element in aregion of centers of sides of the polygon.
 9. The multiway valveaccording to claim 1, wherein the tiltable element comprises a polygonand the operating elements act on the tiltable element in a region ofcentres of sides of the polygon.
 10. The multiway valve according toclaim 1, wherein the tiltable element comprises a polygon and theoperating elements act on the tiltable element in a region of angles ofthe polygon.
 11. The multiway valve according to claim 1, wherein the atleast one said operating element comprises at least one pushbutton. 12.The multiway valve according to claim 1, wherein the multiway valve isinstalled in a hand-operated shower and a plurality of said operatingelements are located in such a way that they can be operated by a userwith a same hand holding said hand-operated shower.
 13. The multiwayvalve according to claim 1, wherein the tiltable element comprises anequilateral triangle, tiltable in selected directions on the tiltingpoint to operate three corresponding said individual valves.
 14. Themultiway valve according to claim 1 comprising a plurality of saidoperating elements of which each includes a pushbutton.